LONDON -- Europe's New Economy stocks made a comeback Friday, which helped drive the major indices upwards. Good results from JDS Uniphase(JDSU Quote - Cramer on JDSU - Stock Picks) were enough to shake off the worries about the sector that followed Nortel Network's(NT Quote - Cramer on NT - Stock Picks) poor results at the beginning of the week.
In London, the
FTSE 100 ended up 64 points, or 1.0%, at 6367 and the
Techmark 100 closed up 56 points, or 1.7%, at 3412.
Inevitably, life was breathed back into fiber-optic companies such as
Bookham Technology (BKHM Quote - Cramer on BKHM - Stock Picks) and
Marconi (MONI Quote - Cramer on MONI - Stock Picks) after the JDS Uniphase
announcement. Bookham rose 6.6% to
22.91 and Marconi climbed 5.2% to 877p.
Chip stocks, however, had a mixed day.
ARM Holdings (ARMHY Quote - Cramer on ARMHY - Stock Picks) closed up 27p, or 4.1%, at 679p, but
ARC International dropped 6p, or 1.7%, to finish at 357.
The worst performer was palm-top maker
Psion, which issued its second profits warning in little more than 18 months. Psion said its full-year profits will be "well below" expectations and the shares slumped 29% to 410p. The hand-held computer maker pointed the finger at the weak euro, a slow-down at its modem division and the high integration cost of a recent acquisition.
The big two telecom stocks also bounced back.
Vodafone (VOD Quote - Cramer on VOD - Stock Picks) nearly cancelled out Wednesday and Thursday's combined losses as it rose 13p, or 4.8%, to 283, which made up nearly half of the FTSE 100's gain today. It's been a good few days for the telco: it picked up a cheap 3G license in Italy and confirmed that it was in talks with Ireland's
Eircom regarding the acquisition of its mobile phone division.
British Telecom (BTY Quote - Cramer on BTY - Stock Picks) continued its recovery of late as it jumped 46p, or 6.2%, to 783 despite an ominous-sounding statement from the head of telecom regulator
Oftel, who said that, "If increased competition does not result in lower prices, I will introduce further measures to ensure this happens."
In the media sector, most of the attention was on
Reed Elsevier. The Anglo-Dutch publisher announced that it was joining together with
Thomson to
purchase Harcourt(H Quote - Cramer on H - Stock Picks) for $5.7 billion. Reed initially saw its share price drop on this news, but the stock rallied to end up 47p, or 8.0%, at 626.
Europe's other stock markets finished Friday solidly higher, as TMT shares jumped back in the driving seat. The
CAC-40 in Paris ended up 60.5, or 1%, at 6268.9 and the
Xetra Dax in Frankfurt was up 140.3, or 2.1%, to 6908.2 late in German trading. The
Neuer Markt's tech-heavy
Nemax 50 index was up 171.4, or 3.8%, to 4744.6.
In Paris,
STMicroelectronics (STM Quote - Cramer on STM - Stock Picks) closed up 1.65 euros, or 2.9%, at 58.00 ($48.09), telecoms equipment maker
Alcatel (ALA Quote - Cramer on ALA - Stock Picks) rose 3.00 euros, or 4.3%, to 73.50 and
Equant (ENT Quote - Cramer on ENT - Stock Picks) closed up 0.88 euros, or 2.4%, to 38.31.
France Telecom (FTE Quote - Cramer on FTE - Stock Picks) ended up 6.90 euros, or 5.8%, to 125.90 and
Deutsche Telekom (DT Quote - Cramer on DT - Stock Picks) surged 2.59 euros, or 6.1%, to 44.79. DT will report earnings next Tuesday.
In Frankfurt,
Volkswagen (VLKAY Quote - Cramer on VLKAY - Stock Picks) rose 1.70 euros, or 3.2%, to 55.00, after reporting better-than-expected third-quarter earnings. Rival
DaimlerChrysler (DCX Quote - Cramer on DCX - Stock Picks) fell 1.11 euros, or 2.1%, to 50.89.
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